I found a shoe in my wall!

The Sandwich Historical Society recently received an old leather shoe as a gift from a local resident. The shoe was found inside the wall during work on the house, prompting the question: why was there a shoe in the wall? Did it get lost when the house was being built, or perhaps it was a silly joke left by the previous owners?

As it turns out, the shoe was most likely placed there intentionally during the construction of the house as a way to ward off evil. When European immigrants settled in the Americas, they brought with them their superstitions and their fears of evil spirits, witches, and demons. Placing an old worn leather shoe in the wall was a common practice to protect from these evils in the 18th and 19th centuries, especially in New England.

The shoe was a used as a talisman to deter evil spirits from the home and it was believed to hold magical powers that would bring good luck to all those living in the house. Traditionally, only one shoe of the pair would be placed in the wall, often near an opening like a door, a window or fireplace, where witches and other evil spirits may try to enter the home.

The shoes were typically well worn and broken in, taking on the shape of the wearer’s foot and in turn thought to carry that person’s spirit. A witch or an evil spirit would be attracted to the scent of the human, their spirit in the shoe acting as bait. The devilish entity would then enter the shoe and become trapped, preventing them from carrying out their evil plans on the residents of the home.

It was a common practice to also place worn baby shoes in the wall, believing they would bring good luck and promote fertility in order to bless the household with a child.

This tradition of placing shoes in the walls fell out of style in the early 20th century, but they can still be found in the walls of historic homes throughout New England, serving their duties as protective talismans of the home.